Lake Apoyo attracts tourists with various tourist attractions such as dark sand beaches for swimming, kayaking, hiking, SCUBA diving, birdwatching, paragliding, boating, and nature. Pumice rocks abound in the lagoon, and are harvested by locals for use in the clothing industry. Recently, petroglyphs and artifacts of indigenous peoples have been found in the reserve.[4] Strict laws limiting human activity exist in the reserve, and several residential construction projects have been stopped and many landowners have been engaged in legal processes by the Ministry of Natural Resources inside the Reserve, in accordance with the laws regarding Nature Reserves in Nicaragua [8]

^Geiger MF, McCrary JK, & Stauffer JR, Jr. (2010): Description of two new species of the Midas cichlid complex (Teleostei:Cichlidae) from Lake Apoyo, Nicaragua; PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON123(2):159–173[4]